was a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 from Yamaguchi Prefecture

Yamaguchi Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan in the Chūgoku region on Honshū island. The capital is the city of Yamaguchi, in the center of the prefecture. The largest city, however, is Shimonoseki.- History :...

.

He was the eldest son of member of Parliament Kan Abe

Kan Abe

was a Japanese politician. Born into a family of brewers of soy sauce and sake who were landlords in the area of Ōtsu District in Yamaguchi Prefecture, he graduated from Tokyo Imperial University, the predecessor of the University of Tokyo...

 and son-in-law of Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi

Nobusuke Kishi

was a Japanese politician and the 56th and 57th Prime Minister of Japan from February 25, 1957 to June 12, 1958 and from then to July 19, 1960. He was often called Shōwa no yōkai .- Early life :...

. He was married to Yoko Kishi, daughter of Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi

Nobusuke Kishi

was a Japanese politician and the 56th and 57th Prime Minister of Japan from February 25, 1957 to June 12, 1958 and from then to July 19, 1960. He was often called Shōwa no yōkai .- Early life :...

. His second son, Shinzō Abe

Shinzo Abe

was the 90th Prime Minister of Japan, elected by a special session of the National Diet on 26 September 2006. He was Japan's youngest post–World War II prime minister and the first born after the war. Abe served as prime minister for nearly twelve months, before resigning on 12 September 2007...

, became Prime Minister of Japan on September 26, 2006. Shintaro Abe was a leading member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party

Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)

The , frequently abbreviated to LDP or , is a centre-right political party in Japan. It is one of the most consistently successful political parties in the democratic world. The LDP ruled almost continuously for nearly 54 years from its founding in 1955 until its defeat in the 2009 election...

 (LDP).

He led a major LDP faction, the conservative Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyukai, whose reins took from former Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda

Takeo Fukuda

was a Japanese politician and the 42d Prime Minister of Japan from December 24, 1976 to December 7, 1978.He was born in Gunma Prefecture and attended Tokyo Imperial University. Before and during World War II, he served as a bureaucrat in the Finance Ministry and as Chief Cabinet Secretary...

 in July 1986, and held a variety of Cabinet and party posts. He became Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Minister of Trade

Trade

Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...

 and lately, in July 1986, Minister of Foreign Affairs within the Government of Yasuhiro Nakasone

Yasuhiro Nakasone

is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from November 27, 1982 to November 6, 1987. A contemporary of Brian Mulroney, Ronald Reagan, Helmut Kohl, François Mitterrand, Margaret Thatcher, and Mikhail Gorbachev, he is best known for pushing through the privatization of...

.

Abe was a top contender to succeed Nakasone as Prime Minister in 1987, until he stepped aside for Noboru Takeshita

Noboru Takeshita

was a Japanese politician and the 74th Prime Minister of Japan from November 6, 1987 to June 3, 1989.Takeshita was also the last Prime Minister during the long rule of the Emperor Shōwa.-Early years:...

, head of a powerful rival faction. Then, he was given the post of General Secretary of the party. In 1988, his chances of becoming Prime Minister sometime in a near future were again thwarted when his name became associated with the Recruit-Cosmos insider-trading stock scandal

Recruit scandal

The was an insider trading and corruption scandal that forced many prominent Japanese politicians to resign in 1988.Recruit is a human resources and classifieds company based in Tokyo. Its chairman, Hiromasa Ezoe, offered a number of shares in a Recruit subsidiary, Cosmos, to business leaders and...

, which brought down Takeshita and forced Abe to resign as the party General Secretary in December 1988. Although Abe seemed to regain his political influence, a liver cancer claimed his life before he was able to make another bid for the prime ministership.

See also

• List of Japanese politicians
• Politics of Japan
  Politics of Japan
  The politics of Japan is conducted in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic monarchy, where Prime Minister of Japan is the head of government. Japanese politics uses a multi-party system. Executive power exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in the Diet, with...
  
  
• Japan
  Japan
  Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...